


What do you do the day after you save the world?

by KeyKnows



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Mostly Gen, Post-Game, Pre-Relationship, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), but not really bc things got really Heterosexual so here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 08:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16260692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeyKnows/pseuds/KeyKnows
Summary: There were a thousand things Link didn't know, about himself, about his past, about Zelda or their relationship, about what he should do.At the very least he knew where he wanted to be.





	What do you do the day after you save the world?

 

The day it all ended Link discovered that, surprisingly enough, everything was far from over.

It was well past sunset when they finally arrived at Hateno but the town was as awake is it were noon. Everyone was talking excitedly about the defeat of Calamity Ganon. It was impossible to distinguish clearly the ruins of Hyrule Castle in the horizon, but that in itself was the proof that Ganon was no more: the shinning red malice disappearance could only mean that.

There was a party being thrown in the town’s main road, children running around, laughter and joyous screams, happiness and relief in the air as Link slipped into town, riding as quietly as possible and not using the main entrance to avoid any peering eyes. He didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment and Zelda, barely awake behind him, needed rest.

She whispered something against his back, her hands firmly around his waist and her cheek resting on his shoulder.

He made a sound of inquiry and she sat up straighter, rising her head.

“Everyone is so happy,” she murmured sleepily in his ear “I’m glad…I’m…so glad.”

Link nodded in answer. He was glad too, glad that the Champions —their friends, friends he didn’t remember— had gone in peace, finally; glad that the people of Hyrule didn’t have to live with doom hanging in the horizon anymore; glad that his quest was over; glad that Zelda was here, alive, with him.

Glad that they did it, they actually did it. Matter not it took them a hundred years and countless deaths.

He was glad.

No one noticed them entering town or if they did no one called to them. Most of the people didn’t know who Link was but there were some that had figured out his identity or at least believed him to be the successor of the Hylian Champion. Link wasn’t exactly subtle about it, anyway. Those people would know to don’t bother them if they saw them.

When he finally got to his house he took the horse to the small stable at the side. He got down and Zelda followed after him but the moment she touched the ground her knees buckled and Link dived to catch her before she fell. She whispered something intelligible, an apology or a curse perhaps, and Link ignored her weak protests as he carried her in his back.

He took her to the front of the house and when he got to the door he realized he didn’t have the keys with him. Must have lost them in the battle, or somewhere else, it wasn’t the first time he lost them with how much he traveled and how little time he actually spent here, but usually Bolson was around to get him a new pair. Now there was no one he could ask.

He stood for a while there, thinking, the sounds of the people celebrating reaching his ears and the Zelda’s weight becoming heavier by the second. He could tell she was trying hard to don’t fall sleep though he didn’t know why she would do that or how he could tell.

At the end he was too tired to consider anything better so he gently put Zelda down and took out his sword. He shoved the tip between the door and the doorframe, at the lock’s height, and started fiddling with it. Zelda watched him from the ground, unamused.

“Is this your house?” she asked, her voice loud and clear this time.

Link, with one foot in the wall to have some leverage, simply used his head to point at the sign in front of the house.

Before Zelda could tell him she couldn’t see anything from where they were standing, the door gave out with a loud sound, the lock completely useless now. Link huffed and sheathed the Master Sword.

He carried Zelda again, this time bridal style, and she was way too tired to protest this or his unconventional use of the legendary sword. She snuggled against his chest, probably unconsciously or probably not, as he went inside and kicked close the door.

Link didn’t gave her much time to admire the house as he took her upstairs immediately. He put her in his bed and she resisted the urge of just sinking into it, remaining sat.

_You hungry?_ Link signed to her. Zelda shook her head. He nodded. _You can sleep here, make yourself comfortable. I’m gonna go tend the horse._

He turned without awaiting her answer and felt her lingering stare following him.

“Link,” she called and he turned again to face her “if it isn’t much bother…I’d like to change clothes.”

Made sense, he thought, she was using the white ceremonial dress he had last seen her in a hundred years ago, it was dirty and torn and surely didn’t bring her good memories: it sure didn’t bring any to him. He nodded and went to the small closet no far from the bed.

He didn’t have much to offer her, the only woman’s clothes in there was the Gerudo outfit he had used to infiltrate the town, but he doubted Zelda would want to use that, it was too revealing and too elaborated to be comfortable to sleep in. He settled for a simply pair of trousers and a shirt that was too big on him and would be even bigger on her.

He gave them to her and she thanked him quietly. Link reminded her he was going to be outside if she needed anything and the left her alone.

After tending to the horse and coming back inside he found her already asleep, her dress on the floor and her face the image of exhaustion but also full of peace. He knew, in his gut, in his heart, in his memories that weren’t there, that she had never before sleep with such ease.

He was glad for that too.

* * *

Link woke up well after dawn. He had slept on the floor next to the bed, with the extra blankets he kept in the closet. It hadn’t been a pleasant night and surely not the one his body needed, but he had have worse on the road.

He laid awake for a moment on his makeshift, uncomfortable bed, seeing the sun get inside the window at the feet of the bed and listening to Zelda’s quiet, calm breathing. He got up as silently as possible and saw that she was still soundly sleep, though she had kicked the blankets off her. He took the thinnest of them and cover her with it before heading downstairs.

The door was open ajar, the work of the wind probably, and he kicked it closed again as he walked beside it. He went around the small kitchen, looking for whatever he had to make a meal. He found pasta and rice. He usually didn’t have fresh ingredients since he didn’t stay for more than a few days but the lack of them weighted down on him now. Zelda would surely be hungry when she woke up and he wanted to make something good, not just edible, for her, but the thought of heading into town to buy supplies made him nauseous.

He went upstairs again to gather his bow and some arrows. He would go to the fields around Hetano to hunt, confident on finding something: the wildness hadn’t failed him on feeding him before.

Before heading out he wrote in a notebook where he was going and left it open over the small dining table, in case Zelda woke up before he got home. He also considered long and hard what he was going to do about the door, not feeling comfortable with leaving Zelda sleeping with it open.

At the end he blocked it with a chair and got out from a window.

* * *

The world hadn’t change at all even though it felt like it should have.

The birds still sang and flown across the skies, the animals still ran around the fields, the trees still stood, the flowers still bloomed. When Link got outside there was nothing in immediate sight that would suggest Calamity Ganon, the bane of Hyrule, was finally gone.

There was even some bokoblins in the field, hunting too. It made sense, they had always been there and they were part of the world too, though probably they wouldn’t be as strong as before and they wouldn’t proliferate as much. They probably wouldn’t attack people unprovoked either.

Link watched them in the distance, safely hidden between some bushes, and wondered how the people of Hyrule would feel about their constant presence. He wondered if the people of Hateno would come to hunt on the fields, see the bokoblins and notice how little difference there would actually be between today and yesterday.

He wondered how different it would be for him, now that there was pretty much nothing to do. No places to go, no people to talk to, no Princess to rescue, no Calamity to vanquish: no destiny to fulfill.

Link hadn’t really thought about it, he woke up and heard Zelda’s voice asking him for the impossible and rising up to the challenge was the only thing in his mind, the only thing he could do, the only thing that felt _right_ doing.  

While he traveled he didn’t thought about what he would do after it was over. There was just a never ending list of goals to reach, go talk with Impa, free the Divine Beasts, get the Master Sword, kill Ganon; and then an even bigger list in-between. He never once stopped to actually consider the after.

Maybe because, in a similar way to how his past was shrouded in mystery the future was just as undistinguishable, so there was no use on pondering it. There was only what he could do and what he had to do.

He waited for the bokoblins to go somewhere else before finally coming out of his hiding spot and looking for something to hunt. The bokoblins had driven away the deer but after a little searching he found a pack of goats, an easy prey.

A tree was his chosen spot to shoot a goat. He perched himself on a thick brand and tensed his arch, waiting for the right moment.

Traveling around Hyrule, talking with the spirits of the Champions and finding the locations pictured in the Sheikah Slate had brought up what he could only guessed were important memories, but the truth was that it had been almost as if watching through a stranger’s eye. He recalled what had happened, what had been told to him, but not really what he had thought. Mostly there were emotions, some really strong and some like a gentle breeze, barely moving his hair.

And emotions were important, of course, because it’s from caring that one can find courage to do what needs to be done and he found that he had cared deeply about his duty, about the Champions, about Zelda. But emotions were vague, confusing and didn’t tell him _why_ he had cared.

He saw his target strolling down the hill and shot not where it was but where it was going to be.

He wondered, as his arrow found its mark in the goat’s neck, if it was that important to know why.

Link thought it was important. He came down of the tree and ran after the injured goat trying to flee, shooting it again this time on one leg. The goat fell no long after and when he caught up to it he took out a small knife from his belt.

It was important, mostly, because if he’d had any idea of what he used to think, on the things that had mattered to him, maybe he wouldn’t be here out in the field, the castle on his back finally free of malice, feeling despondent.

Perhaps if he knew, he wouldn’t have to wonder about what to do now, because surely the Link of a hundred years before, the stranger wearing blue in all of his memories, surely he had had an idea of what he wanted to do after all was over. Maybe he had actually wanted to marry Mipha, or maybe he had wanted to travel without any responsibilities, or maybe he had wanted to stay Zelda’s appointed knight forever or maybe, or maybe…

He didn’t know, and this new Link hadn’t know anything but his duty. And his duty was done.

He slashed the goat’s throat and watched it die quietly on the grass.

* * *

After some long considerations Link did end up going into town. The meat he got was too much for him and Zelda so he decided to see if he could sell part of it.

It wasn’t that he disliked the townspeople but he had become accustomed to being alone. Hyrule was, at least now, a very silent and lonely place and in his travels Link had found himself enjoying the quietness of it all. He was always happy to come into a town or a stable but he was never sad to leave.

And besides, going into town meant he had to talk.

The man at the general store received him with a big smile, he was always happy to see Link since he usually brought him good meat and bought a lot of supplies, but today the man was beaming and it wasn’t a secret why.

“Welcome!” the man exclaimed when he saw Link crossing the door “what can I do for you today, young man?”

The shopkeeper looked at him curiously and it was evident he would’ve like to say something more than just his regular greeting, but everyone had quickly learned that Link was a reserved person. Most of them also hated making him talk too much, the sound of his voice made it seem like he was in pain every time he spoke.

“I was hoping to sell some goat meat,” Link said, raspy, crackly and little too low. He walked to the counter and put a fabric bag with the meat over it.

“Ah, that would come by perfectly right now,” the man said, bending under the counter to get a weighing machine “we all got a little crazy at yesterday’s celebration, we burn through lots of food!” he laughed and happily weighted the meat “I can give you 300 rupees for it, what do you say?”

“I take it,” Link nodded. He never said no to whatever they offered him, at the end of the day he didn’t need that much meat and whatever money would be useful “you don’t have anything fresh then?”

“I’m sorry but all that’s left is some wheat and cane sugar, not much for a good meal really.”

The mention of the ingredients reminded Link of something, he had read it somewhere…oh, yeah, the royal recipes. An idea occurred to him.

“I’ll take that too.” He said.

“Sure thing, I’ll give you just 260 rupees for the meat, then.”

Link nodded again and waited for the man to put together his things. When it was done Linked thanked him and went for the door, but the man called for him.

“Hey, lad,” the man said, coming from behind the counter and getting near him.

Link turned to him and something in his expression made the shopkeeper doubt, but at the end he smiled and patted Link on the back.

“I just wanted to say…we all are really grateful for what you did, we really are, we wished you could’ve join us yesterday but we understand. I speak for all town when I say that we are here for whatever you need, really.”

Link didn’t have words, he wasn’t expecting this at all but he had to say something.

“I…,” he started, but the shopkeeper shook his head, still smiling.

“You don’t have to say anything just…don’t be a stranger, and don’t forget this town is your home.”

Link nodded.

* * *

When he came back home Zelda was still sleeping and there was no indication that she had been up at some point. It made him worry a little so he checked on her, but she was sleeping normally, like she always had, curling herself into a ball and his mouth slightly open, there was even some drool on the pillow and he smiled at this.

He couldn’t imagine how tired she should be after a hundred years of holding back Ganon, so he decided to don’t disturb her. She would wake up when she were ready…or hungry.

Link came downstairs and started looking for something in the small space under the stairs. He came across many interesting things in his journey and sometimes he found stuff that he wanted to keep, if just for a mere whim. Here under the stairs were a lot of trinkets, some useful, some don’t, like books he had found on abandoned places, rocks that he thought were pretty, some ore that he kept for when he needed money and a lot more.

He messed with a box full of books for a while and then got out the one he was looking for. It was a recipe book he had found on the castle and it had some interesting notes about Zelda, it said her favorite dish was fruitcake and he planned to make some for when she woke up.

He didn’t bother to tidy up again and went to the kitchen. The recipe was simple and said that any kind of fruit would do, so he was using some apples and berries that grew around Hetano. He would’ve like to use Zelda’s favorite fruit but he didn’t know…or didn’t remember, probably, so that would’ve to do.

He prepared the main dish first, just meat with fried rice, and then moved onto the cake.

The sun was setting when he was done and, just in time, Zelda woke up.

The creaks of the bed and her satisfied, sleepy groan rolled downstairs. Link carefully put a pot over the cake to hide it, so it would be a surprise, and turned around, leaning on the table and waiting for her to come down.

“Good…morning,” she said, tentatively and groggy.

_Good evening_ , he corrected, without being able to hold a smile.

Her hair was a mess, sticking out everywhere and looking more like a golden nest, her face was swollen and red for just waking up and the oversized shirt made her look…so young.

She looked beautiful, sleepy and disoriented and standing awkwardly in the middle on his house, looking all around her, at every detail, and then bringing her eyes back to him.

She looked beautiful, sleepy, awkward and finally at peace.

“Evening?” Zelda asked “How long did I sleep?”

_A whole day_ , he answered.

“Oh,” she sighed in relieve “that’s good…” she stopped and then look curiously in Link’s general direction “are you making dinner, perhaps?”

He smiled. Maybe the alluring smell of roasted meat was what brought her to world of the awake.

_Just done with it_ , he signed enthusiastically, _take a sit I’ll serve you some_.

“Thank you,” Zelda said, without hiding her own enthusiasm and sitting down on his small table: just two seats, she noticed. “So this is your house, I presume.”

He made an affirmative noise.

“Why did we have to break into in then?” she sounded almost recriminatory but her light tone made it clear she was joking.

Link let out a non-committing groan and she laughed, quietly and good natured.

“It’s a nice place,” she commented “I doubt you spend much time here, though.”

By then Link was already putting a plate with a generous serving in front of her. Zelda’s eyes gleam at the sight but still waited for him to sit with his own plate to start eating.

She dug in happily the moment it was courteous and forgot all semblance of conversation. She started eating fast, with little regard for table etiquette and she moaned at the first bite, closing her eyes. He watched her silently, smiling to himself, and enjoying his own meal.

When she was done he asked if she wanted a second serving and Zelda happily accepted. She ate slower this time and more like a princess would, carefully sweeping her lips with a napkin and sitting all proper on the wooden chair, looking terribly out of place with her mismatched clothes and messy hair.

At some point she put down her spoon and looked around the house again. The light, easy ambient around them suddenly changing, Link put his food aside too and followed her gaze all the way to the wall.

He deflated on his seat.

“The Champions’?” she asked, firm and not quite as a question at all but still tentative enough to be interpreted like one.

“Mmm,” Link hummed affirmatively and Zelda teared her gaze away from the weapons on the wall to look at him, _their people gave them to me, when I freed the Divine Beasts_ , he signed.

Zelda nodded.

“It’s only appropriate,” she said, her voice loud and a little tight, “they were your brothers in arms I’m sure…I’m sure they would be happy for you to have them.”

Link frowned, it sounded more like she was trying to console herself by saying that and he wondered, what was sadder: mourning for a hundred years or not remembering why there was any reason to mourn at all.

He wasn’t sure, sometimes, if it really was appropriate for him to keep the weapons, if maybe it would be better for them to have stayed with their people. There was so little he actually remembered about the Champions, he felt he couldn’t honor their memory properly and he didn’t feel like he needed something in exchanged of setting them free.

While he was lost in his musings about what wasn’t and what should be, Zelda was also deep in thought, submerging in her memories or what it was and couldn’t be anymore.

He shook his head. He didn’t want her or him to get too entertained in dark thoughts, there would be time for that, he decided, they would be time for them to mourn and to remember and to think. He figured they had all the time in the world for that, now.

Link tapped on the table to get her attention.

_Do you have room for dessert?_ He asked her.

She blinked and then, slowly, smiled.

“There’s always room for dessert,” she said, as it were obvious.

He got up and took the cake, still with the pot hiding it and put it in the middle of the table. He made a dramatic pause and arched a brow at Zelda, as if to ask ‘are you ready?’ She giggled and nodded.

He took off the pot and proudly showed her the fruitcake. It wasn’t the most elegant looking but it definitely seemed tasty.

Zelda looked at it, shocked, and he waited eagerly for her reaction.

She let out a small, shaky sigh and then started crying, hiding her face in her hands. Link panicked, fumbled around with the pot and desperately try to get her to look at him to apologize and when it became obvious that she wasn’t emerging from her hands:

“I’m sorry!” he squeaked.

That got her to look up and she shook her head. She got up and went to embrace him, tightly.

She melted into him and he simply hugged her too, still at lost. Zelda snuggled against his shoulder and whimpered, holding him so hard it almost hurt, like she hadn’t hold him in centuries and he guessed, well, she hadn’t.

Link felt himself getting emotional by the second, his eyes stung and he whimpered a little too.

“Thank you,” Zelda whispered against his ear, breathy and hoarse and so full of sentiment, “thank you, Link.”

She separated from him a little, to look him in the eye. And with her face red, her hair a mess, her eyes wet, she smiled and murmured:

“Thank you.”

He saw her, he heard her and he cried too. 

* * *

Zelda said the fruitcake was fantastic and proceeded to tell Link how he had always had impressive cooking skills.

She told him a few food-related stories about them and the Champions, like how he and Daruk were always talking about food; how Urbosa would find them the weirdest dishes out there to try and he and Daruk were the only ones willing to eat them; about the time Mipha asked Link for cooking lessons and she almost set the camp on fire; and how Revali flew around wherever they were camping to get Link the best ingredients; how, even when they still didn’t get along, and there was only the two of them, Link would get out his way to cook something she liked.

He listened attentively to all of it and laughed alongside her or gazed wistfully in the distance. He was glad she was telling him all of this, it seemed important to know it even if, in a way, it was all really vain.

The night creeped around them, the wind opened the door a few times and eventually Zelda started yawning more often than talking so they decided to call it a day.

“I’ve done nothing but sleep,” Zelda commented as they both went upstairs.

Link hummed in agreement as he started to set his improvised bed in the floor.

“I’m sorry for taking your bed,” she said as she got on it “you must be tired too.”

_It’s okay_ , he assured her, _you need it way more than I do._

She stayed a moment in silence, sitting cross-legged on the bed and watching him set up his own bed.

“You know…,” she started, not looking at him at all “I…wouldn’t mind at all if you wanted to sleep up here, with me,” she laughed nervously “It’s your bed, after all.”

Link stared at her, taken back by the proposal, and wondered how serious she was about it. He definitely wanted to sleep in his bed but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or...make himself uncomfortable. He didn’t really know how intimate their relationship had been before, and this offer brought it into question. The thought made him warm and he felt the blood rushing to his face.

“I— I apologize!” Zelda yelped at seeing him blush “that was unbecoming of me.”

Link shook his head.

_No, no, it’s fine_ , he signed slowly, his hands firm unlike how his voiced would’ve sound had he used it, _I mean…if you really don’t mind_ , he said and casted his gaze down.

Zelda stayed silent, biting her lip as she mused over her answer.

“I really not,” she said, more secure this time though she was blushing too, “if you really don’t mind, of course.”

He nodded and got up. He stared at Zelda and the bed in hesitation but she was already making room for him and he guessed then, this was going to happen.

He got into the bed slowly, extra careful to don’t touch Zelda at all but their arms or legs ended up brushing anyway. At the end both of them were laying on their sides, Zelda facing the wall and Link facing her back.

The bed wasn’t made for two people and it showed, any movement would bring their bodies into contact and his breath was delicately moving her hair. Both of them were tense and Link thought maybe this wasn’t a good idea at all but his back was already thanking him for not sleeping on the hard wooden floor and the bed was warm and soft and…

And Zelda was already sleeping.

There was no use on worrying about this at all, about what it meant, if it did mean something besides two tired friends sharing a bed.

He felt content here, having Zelda sleeping right here when he could reach her, right here where she wouldn’t disappear and he guessed she felt like that too. He hoped she did.

With that in mind he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

Link woke up earlier this time, sleeping on his back, a leg and an arm hanging off the mattress and Zelda wrapped around his chest. He relished on the quiet, simple joy of being here with her, safe at last, but eventually got up. He carefully slipped away from her gentle grasp and went to start his day.

He did some housework and made sure there was enough food for both of them to have breakfast. The fruitcake was almost gone and he saved that for Zelda.

While he was eating the left over rice, Zelda stirred and eventually came downstairs. She sat to have breakfast with him.

_I was thinking_ , he said to her over the last remnants of the fruitcake, _we should go to get you some clothes_.

“Oh, yes, I was thinking about that too,” she agreed “I’ve been filthy mess long enough.”

_We can go to the armor shop, they have lots of normal clothes too_.

They agreed to go after Zelda had taken a bath and after that was done she did her best to brush her hair with her hands. Link didn’t have a brush and she asked him how his hair never looked out of place.

He had shrugged while smiling.

Link was a little nervous about going into town with her, surely people would see her with him and it wouldn’t be hard to guess who she was, but even if everyone stared long and hard at them no one approached them. He wondered why but was still glad about it.

Once in the armor shop the shopkeeper was eager to help them find something to their liking, and Zelda choose several pairs of pants and shirts, and when the shopkeeper offered a dress she decline. She had never been one for dresses after all.

The trip to the armor shop quickly became a full-fledged shopping trip. Zelda asked him about what he had in his house and it turned out that there were a lot of things he didn’t have because, well, he was never there, so they ended up going to every shop to buy this or that and while they were at it, it downed on him that, now, there was no reason for him to go anywhere else.

He could stay here at Hetano forever if he pleased, and no one would reproach him. The thought wasn’t as unwelcomed as it had been before, when he first bought the house and wondered why the hell he was wasting precious rupees on this when there was so much to be done.

Someone, Bolson perhaps, had told him that it was a good inversion, to have some place to come back. And he had come back.

Zelda, buying supplies and house articles as she were an expert housewife and not the tireless researcher she actually was, seemed to be thinking on a long, probably permanent stay. That thought was not only welcomed but enthusiastically received.

When they were finally done they went back to the house, Zelda changed in some of her new clothes and they had lunch.

“You talked,” Zelda commented “to the townspeople.”

Link was already expecting this so he calmly signed:

_There’s very few people who knows sign language_ , he told her, _and I had to talk to them. I had a lot to explain_.

He wasn’t sure at all how come he hadn’t forget it himself, with everything else that his mind hadn’t hold onto while he slept. He tried using it a lot of times but soon he realized that there were very few people who know it and it would be foolish on his part to hold onto it when there was a kingdom he needed to save. It was easier to use his voice, even if it sounded wrong to his own ears and made him uncomfortable, open and vulnerable, to what he didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure why his voice sounded like it did, broken and low, like his throat was in shreds.

“You never talked before,” Zelda continued, intrigued “even when you had to.”

He thought carefully about what he wanted to say next. Surely Zelda could tell him why he didn’t talk before, she could tell him why his voice sounded like it did, why he felt weak when he spoke at loud, why sign language was the only thing he truly, fully remembered from before.

Link hesitated, with his hands before his chest, wondering if that was a conversation he wanted to have now, if he wanted to ask Zelda all of this and know. There was so much he didn’t know about himself, about them.

_I don’t like doing it_ , he decided to say in the end, _it…it makes me uncomfortable, but no one understands this and I needed them to listen to me_.

Zelda nodded and then stared at the wall with all the Champions’ weapons on it, thinking.

“I see,” she said, suddenly solemn “I’m sorry, Link, I’m sorry that I not only gave you the burden of saving Hyrule but…that I made you do this. I don’t know if you remember,” she turned to look at him, her eyes sad and full of guilt “but there was a reason why you didn’t talk and when you told me about it, when I first heard your voice…I’m sorry I made you talk again.”

No, he didn’t remember but her words sent a shiver down his spine. He licked his lips.

_It’s not your fault_ , he signed, because it wasn’t, _none of this, none of what happened it’s your fault_.

“And yet I’m responsible,” Zelda said decisively “and I won’t shy away from that responsibility.”

He looked at her, how serious she was, how much guilt she carried, how the burden of her birthright was still a burden despite all this time and their ultimate victory. He sighed and nodded, because there was nothing else he could say.

They finished lunch in a heavy, sad, silence.

* * *

They slept together in the bed again. This time, when Zelda wrapped herself around him, both of them were awake.

* * *

Zelda started sleeping a normal amount of time three weeks after they defeated Ganon. The most remarkable thing that happened in that time was that they went to see Purah, which honestly should’ve been one of the first things on their list.

However, Link realized, just how he had mused before, now there was no list to follow at all. Every day was spent uneventfully, either they went to town to buy supplies or they went to hunt together (Zelda was a terrible hunter which was unfortunate considering how good she was with a bow, but she was mostly there just to don’t stay alone at home), and that was their whole day.

At home, Link made himself busy with housework and Zelda had been spending a lot of time going through his loot. She had found interesting books and artifacts that Link had found during his travels and was happy to have something to channel her energy on. Link had suggested that she went to Purah’s lab, surely the work there would be more mentally stimulating than all the junk he had found, but Zelda had declined and said she preferred to stay there with him.

In all honestly, Link preferred that too.

Still, when a month passed since their victory it became obvious that Zelda was restless. She was constantly looking for something to do, trying to take on some of the housework and doing a terrible job. Being a princess she had never done anything like that and it showed, and Link’s limited tableware had suffered enough casualties to keep it up.

She went to town on her own multiples times doing Hylia knew what, and at some point she did go to Purah’s, only to come back one night covered in some blue goo that took all of their combined strength to get out of her hair.

The only moment she seemed to calm down was when they went to bed, but the moment she was awake or not laying at his side, she was running around like a headless chicken.

A month and a half later, after they finished dinner, Link finally asked her what was going on.

Zelda seemed almost repentant when he asked her, casting her eyes to the floor and playing with his hands under the table. She sighed deeply, and it sounded tired and old.

“Did you ever think about what were you going to do?” Zelda said instead of answering, looking at Link under her eyelashes, like she didn’t want to stare at him at all “After you defeated Ganon, after you saved Hyrule, did you ever think about what was going to happen next?”

Link watched her, his expression blank as it usually was and felt the need to sigh too, but he held it in. He hadn’t and it wasn’t hard at all to guess that Zelda had.

_Are you not happy here?_ He asked, because today there was only more questions and no answers, no answer he wanted to hear anyway.

Zelda looked at him sadly and sat straighter on her chair, rolling back her shoulders, taking a strand of hair behind her ear. She sat like a princess would, proper and tight and somehow distant. For how long they been at Hateno he had never seen her look like this, but the sight was familiar all the same and he felt his breath getting caught in his throat.

“It is not a matter of my own happiness,” she said, still looking terribly sad “…or perhaps it is,” she conceded after a second of hesitation and the continued with renewed confidence “but, even if it is a selfish act, I believe it’s more of a responsibility. I cannot stay here forever, there’s people out there who need guiding, there’s a Kingdom that needs a ruler and it’s both my birthright and my duty to see to those obligations.”

Link sighed then. She looked at him with apprehension, her brow furrowed and even if her next words were careful there was no doubt in them.

“However such a task it’s not a burden you should carry. I couldn’t ask more of you when you have already done so much.”

_And you haven’t?_ He signed, his movements stiff and slow, his lips tight. _Haven’t you done so much for these people and this Kingdom already?_

Zelda sneered humorlessly.

“Not nearly enough.”

He thought it was enough. But whatever he said wasn’t going to convince her otherwise and Link knew it would be selfish of him to try to dissuade her.

_I never thought about what I would do_ , he decided to say instead, _I never cared much about it, but I think…I like this._

“And I couldn’t ask you to have anything less.” Zelda smiled at him and he couldn’t bring himself to correspond. She sighed “I’ll be leaving tomorrow at dawn, I’ll go to Kakariko Village to see Impa, and from there I plan on visiting King Dorephan. I’ll decide there where to go next.”

Link nodded but didn’t have much to add.

* * *

 They went to sleep together like they had been doing for weeks. This time Link was the one enveloping Zelda in his arms, holding her dearly and firmly against his chest, burying his face in her hair, like she could be gone at any moment and he guessed, came dawn, she would be gone.

* * *

Zelda had produced a horse from somewhere and while the first rays of sunshine touched the earth and she loaded the horse with her supplies, Link made a choice.

He went to stand near her and that alone caught her attention. She turned to him, her expression unreadable and waited for what he wanted to say.

_I’ll go with you_ , he signed.

She blinked and inclined her head slightly to the right.

“You don’t have to do that,” Zelda assured him “I already told you, Link, I couldn’t ask for more of your help and I know you don’t want to go on another unending quest.”

He certainly didn’t but he wasn’t sure either of what was what he truly wanted. He liked Hateno and its people and he liked hi house, but he would do just fine far away from them like he had done before. This was more important.

_You’re not asking me to help you,_ he said, _I’m offering my aid._

“Link, I—” she was at lose of words, before his unyielding eyes and his sincerity “I…”

_Will you take my service?_ He asked her and, because he guessed there was no better way to ask, got down on one knee. _I’m still your appointed knight, your highness._

Zelda smiled, big and more radiant that the sun coming up on her back, her eyes prickling with unshed tears.

“No, you’re not my appointed knight.” She said and took his hands to make him stand up and see him eye to eye. Zelda put her hands on Link’s cheeks and he leaned into the touch “You’re so much more than that.” She put her forehead over his and closed her eyes.

He closed his eyes too, putting his hands over hers and they stayed there for a while, lost in the other’s warm and thinking of the future they were allowed to have.

The sun rose over Hyrule, like it had been doing on the last hundred years but this time, the uncertainty that came with a new day was bathed in anticipation and hope.

Link didn’t know what he wanted, didn’t know what there was to do now that his destiny had been fulfilled but, at the very least, he knew where he wanted to be: by her side.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this took me fucking forever to write and you can pinpoint the exact sentence where i gave up and where i realized that i didn't know where i was going with this
> 
> also, for the record, one day i'll write a fic with Accurate selectvely mute Link, bc this is not this fic and I'm sorry.
> 
> In any case:
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading! Every comment will be appreciate! <3


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